The Barrett dilemma

Oh No!!!!! but sir he is calling me names....Did mummy give you the phone to play with while she mashed up your food? Stats say I am right and you are wrong....BB does not give away excessive penalties....And the 3 officials on the field...1 off the field...All the Citing people...etc etc etc dont see all your fabricated illegalities that BB does but supposedly gets away with.....

So a kleptomaniac is not kleptomaniac because he hasn’t been caught. Interesting logic. He has been yellow carded in the past and will be again. I hope it costs you a RWC semi-final. I will accept your apology then. As for the play on your name lighten up dude, you played the man when you accused me of bias and a lack of rugby smarts, as you always do with anyone who disagrees with your opinion. If you can’t take it don’t try to dish it out. Cheers Jackoff - oh whoops...

Well its not...Look at his stats...look at the amount of penalties he gives away...Dont try to fabricate stuff you think is not legal but everybody including the refs think and rule as legal.....Oh and really is personal name calling something you practice every time someone has a different opinion to you? So shallow...Actually rather pathetic...Childish...

If Beaver can then Mounga can....What do you want Tman? Play Mounga so BB gets no game time? There is 5 tests left at most and its clearly coming down to BB v Mounga for the 10 spot...I will give it to BB as you cant possibably give every back-up player a start or your no 1 guys get sub time play only...Its a "cant have it both ways" scenario

Really? So on the basis of a few minutes as sub hes ready to start in a world cup semi and final should both bb and dmac get injured, something common in AB finals history. Err, i dont think so.

To see Aaron Smith throw the pass behind Savea v England and Kieran knock on v Ireland, suggests AB’s arnt handling the pressure of reduced opportunities very well. They are used to being flat track bullies with healthy score board margin or at least feeling they are cracking their opponents. NH teams are better conditioned and fitter than they were and able to defend for the 80, stifling the AB bench factor and ability to run away in the last 15-10 minutes. It’s a pity Ben Smith has to play wing when he’s better and more influential at 15 just to accommodate Dmac and maybe BB going forward but Naholo is a non starter IMO, unreliable under high ball and not confident enough. It hasn’t helped Crotty having to play 13 so often, to accommodate the overrated SBW, who has never had a rugby brain. Hansen has a blind spot there, which he will try and get the old mule up for WC based on Ritchie and DC doing it last WC but those guys had rugby nous. SBW reverts to league style under pressure, that’s what he grew up on and knows. BB, for the sake of proving a point, made a mistake in kicking the drop goal v Ireland, when we could have spread it wide with impunity, since the penalty was in front on the 22. His decision making/ game management has not been all that good, needing to prove he had it in him, perhaps to stave off the challenge of Mounga, who is more structured and may well be a better director of play but looks like he’s not gonna get the opportunities before WC. The tactical kicking from 10 is not great and the box kicks from our 9’s a weakness and as we saw in the last WC, contestable kicks are gonna be big next year. I have no doubt we can defend the kick chase but doubt our ability to consistently hoist our own, as contestable as these NH teams do and that matters. But the NH teams won’t be playing in front of their big stadium crowds in Japan, nor meeting AB’s at end of SH season. Just look at how hard Ireland had to struggle to get over a below average Wallabies at the end of NH season. Ireland deserved that win v AB’s but some of those Ireland saves like the Omahoney snaffle of the grubber behind were miraculous, good luck to them finding that stuff again in WC pressure and being an expected favourite. AB’s may hate the rock under the beach towel but it seems to have always been good for them in retrospect come WC. It knocks performance, the end of season travelling and accumulated weariness, starting from the beat up local derbies in NZ super rugby. Likes of Aaron smith with the massive amount of running game after game, just looked tired come Europe, that won’t be the case for he and team at WC. By accounts, BB has a great work ethic, seems to have largely fixed his goalkicking, I want him to be much better tactically kicking next year. They’ll be fresher and more accurate next November. Little disappointed with Squires lack of consistency and injury proneness, I expected him to be a physical dominator like a Kaino or Collins, they might go Cane at 6 next year. IMO Savea brings much more to 7 than Cane whose big defensive work ethic is 6 anyway. I’m not sure what is this new style they are trying to bed in? And no one is saying what it is or defining it? 2 play makers sure, that’s it? I don’t think they have to change much, tight five is outstanding, we have a platform against anyone. I guess they are thinking they just need a bit more composure and accuracy and acceptance that there are less opportunities these days, where defences rule over attack to a much larger extent And to improve their kicking game. I don’t see too much wrong but would like BB to grow his tactical reading and option taking, he has to steer us around the park like DC was outstanding doing for last WC. That direction at 10 maybe matters most at WC, when games tend to be tighter with what’s on the line. For me, it’s at 10 I have doubts and would like to see Mounga there more, see how he goes plus BB is outstanding, almost as good or maybe on par with Folau in the air, more space at 15 for him also, a better 15 than Dmac, so would Mounga be a more effective 10 than BB? I don’t see command and control at 10 from BB. Easy to be blinded by a players spectacularness like BB’s running game or SBWs athlete physique and offloading Given the Mounga style of playing more straight, challenging the defensive line and that BB is being stifled in his running at 10 and pushed wider against high quality defence plus the AB’s will need to play it up the middle more in high pressure tight WC games, I wish they would be more open to change at 10 than it looks like they are gonna be. But BB is a great, great runner, can’t really criticise them for sticking with him at 10 and asking him to grow his game.

No Jerko, Barrett just isn’t penalised as often as he should be. Check out his actions at the 51st minute mark in Bledisloe 3 this year for instance. He is one of Rugby’s most talented players and doesn’t need to resort to these cheap illegal tactics. This article was about his strengths and weaknesses and I see his discipline as a potential weaknesss.

So I guess his many tests this year without a yellow testifys to his unwillingness to deliberatly cheat no matter when the opportunity presents itself eh? You seem more anti BB than rugby smart

Barrett can also be a yellow card liability. He has an innate inability to resist illegal knockdowns and offside play, particularly in the red zone. His back to back yellow cards last year testifies to his willingness to deliberately cheat if the opportunity presents itself.

The key point was BB was great in those two years (actually not WPOTY great last year in my view, but the esteemed judges say so..). However, things have changed. There is a clear defensive strategy to shutting him that's mostly effective, and he himself might also be down on confidence/form. He wasn't great for the Canes this year, as people noted at the time. I personally didn't see that as overly concerning but it might actually have been a warning sign.

So the NON 10 has been best player in the world from 10.....He's not the best 10 but he is the best player? load of BS...And his backup has won the SR player of the year 3 years running from playing 15 for 2 years then playing 10 for a year.....Something no other player has done....All while Mounga was playing SR in the same comp in the same country ........I think you have some biases towards Canterbury and their players....

I would love to know what you base that on as Ireland controlled the match...not just the first 58mins...ABs never gained control at all and Mounga's contribution was to take the ball into contact and recycle on 4 occasions....He gave very little that could enthuse anyone. BB does very well at 10 and has not started at FB for any team that I can remember for a very long time and I very much remember Spopunga absolutely killing it against SA in his first start and I remember Dmac twice being fantastic against SA last year when we won 57-0 so it is about doing it more than once and whilst Mounga has a great future from the looks of it he is yet to prove a thing...And being part of a ABs team to beat Italy wont prove anything either. Against England Dmac made 2 linebreaks when neither BB or Mounga made any so it therefore must be Dmac to 10 must it? BB is the man to take NZ to the WC at 10 (world player 2y running)...Dmac his backup...( SR player 3y running)...Mounga to get his best shot after the WC but great to have as backup in case of injury

BB has been useless whenever opposition have had parity in the forwards. Re Mounga, the game against SA was for the Rugby championship. SA and Ireland were the two toughest opposition up front. Better 1 good performance against these opponents than none. The All Blacks regained composure against Ireland when Mounga came on, BB created perhaps the best opportunity of the game at that point but not from 1st five - when he has space BB is amongst the best in the game.

Exactly. I'd go as far as saying if the AB forwards face an evenly matched opposition BB becomes ineffective. More chances were generated against Ireland when Mounga came on. Mounga needs to start and BB to 15, I hope that without Smith in the brains trust Hanson and co make the right call.

Barrett is the best player in the game, but he's not a 10. He does a decent job there because of his natural ability, but he's a 15 playing at 10 which you can see in his lack of organization... and why there are a number of other 10s in the world game who outshine him in their playmaking. Imagine how good the could be if they put in a real 10 and gave BB free reign?!

Barrett's play lacks variation and, in my view, he's not an instinctive ball-in-hand playmaker beyond his running game. At the moment, he's shuffling sideways, shovelling the ball to the midfield and suffocating space for the outside backs. There's no plan B to rush defence, other than the kick - which in itself has not been well executed enough. Critics like Jacko say RM didn't impress when he came on against Ireland but the attack immediately straightened, he took on the line to create doubt with the inside defenders, and his wider passing opened up space for the likes of Ioane.

The Crusaders showed how to shut down Barrett and the Hurricanes attack. Then it was Ireland, followed by the Lions, The Boks and England. Once you shut down his space he becomes very ineffective and this will be the case at the next WC unless the AB's can think of another way to combat this. Whether they have the idea and are not showing their hand until the WC is the big unknown. It makes for an interesting WC thats for sure. The AB's have been riding the Barrett Horse since the last WC and ignored the traditional model of Cruden and Sopoanga. And i suspect they won't have confidence in RM before the next WC so its either going to work or the AB's and win the WC or they will be knocked out in the 1/4 finals.

The big problem is that the game is against italy...There is 10 no 10s in NZ who could play well against italy with a bunch of ABs around them....Mounga having a blinder against italy proves zero...Put Dmac there and they thrash Italy...Put BB there same result...The game proves nothing and shows us nothing about Mounga

I'm sure Shag and Fozzie will select a 10 based on the style they want to play but I personally think Mounga offers more variation and can run, pass and kick equally well. Barrett is an out and out runner who is still at this age trying master distribution and a kicking game.

Mounga has had 1 good game against teir 1 and that was off the bench against SA....He was very average against England and ireland ( good opposition) and very average against Argentina earlier in the season. All his proving of his ability has been at lower than test level so far or against teir 2 Japan...He should end up being good but lets not rush that one...